A Factual Accounting of the World's History By A Traveler
by ninjakilla
Summary: Wondered what it might be like having a female Luffy, or even just a sister for Luffy. One shot idea grew into a short story about Luffy and his twin sister.
1. Introduction

This is a guilty pleasure of mine. No real time frame on when its being updated, although I have the next little bit written up. It started off as a one shot I couldn't get out of my head and grew into a monster 20,000 word still incomplete story. Basic premise is that Luffy has a sister. No promises that canon changes or that it stays the same. No promises that you're going to like it either; the style is very different from my other story. Personally I like writing this more then Born from Shadows, but this is MUCH more difficult so it probably won't get updated often at all.

Please review letting me know what you think or what you think can be done to improve it.

~Line break~

For as long as she's been alive, theres always been Luffy. He is the one constant in her volatile childhood. Of course, their grandfather visits them and helps train them. Theres also the kind barkeep, in a surrogate mother role for the two of them. But her earliest memories are of her and Luffy —together.

It's still just the two of them when the pirates come. Luffy is infatuated with the crowd. She follows him at a more sedate pace. She's always been more curious then Luffy, never able to let a mystery lie; but just like now, she's sometimes painfully shy, too cautious compared to Luffy.

Luffy clamps on to the captain with his bright red hair. The crew opens its circle and lets the two join them. Of the two twins, Luffy is the clear favorite. She doesn't mind. After the initial awkwardness of her first meeting, she feels just as welcome as Luffy. Often Luffy can be seen sitting at the bar next to Shanks, demanding stories of his bravery. She sits behind the bar next to Makino and joins in whenever she can.

She is more curious then Luffy, but she's still more cautious. Luffy opens up the little chest and eats their cursed fruit. She looks on clueless. Makino pulls her in a hug to her chest with relief, however she scowls; Luffy is now a rubber man, while she hesitated to touch the fruit. Jealousy doesn't become her, and she gets over it quickly as children do. After all, _it's Luffy._ Her brother would never have eaten the fruit if he knew she wanted it.

She's there for every step of his childhood. When Luffy declares he will be the pirate king, the red hair crew laughs at him and Yasoop turns to her, jeering, "And what are you? Future pirate queen?"

She's affronted. She throws her hands on her hips. "How could I take Luffy's dream from him?!"

The men are quick to laugh again, but she's serious. Luffy has never broken a promise to her. When he says he will do something, even share his meat, he does it. In her mind she cant imagine a world where Luffy doesn't achieve his goal. Its like imagining that the sky is suddenly the ground or that water isn't wet—incomprehensible.

She spends the next day and a half bugging Makino about the question anyway. "Why would I have to be the pirate queen anyway? Why can't I be a king too?"

Makino tries her hardest to explain that a king a queen are equal, but she knows better because a queen is just a grownup princess, while a king is just a grown up prince.

And she knows that princes rescue princesses and not the other way around. She doesn't want to be a queen; the very thought of such an inequality bothers her but she's not quite sure why.

"It's only words" Makino explains, but thats exactly the problem she cant find words to express: It's words that are failing her, words that are not allowing her to explain the inequality, the metaphorical lessening of what should be an amazing accomplishment. Pirate queen and Pirate king are not, and never will be, the same thing, not to her—and not to the world either, she privately thinks.

She declares loudly that she never wants to be a queen and Luffy cheers her on, happy for her as always.

When the crew leaves for the final voyage from their tiny village, she watches on quietly. Her exuberance can match Luffy's pound for pound on her best day, but when she's sad, there's nothing quite like the cloud that hangs over her. Everyone seems to feel it and Luffy has trouble swinging the mood back to one of positivity. But because of who he is, he manages it.

Shanks, lacking one arm leaves his hat with her brother. He leaves her with a smile and well wishes.

She frowns at the goodbye. For all that his crew was to her, none of them expect from her what they see from her brother. She decides, as she watches the ship sail over the horizon as far as her eyes can track it, that she must be missing something. Something that Luffy has. Something that makes them believe in his future.

She's young, so it takes a while to put together her thoughts. When she finally comes to her answer, she decides all at once that what makes her and Luffy different isn't something obvious.

It's not his devil fruit.

It's not that he's a boy.

It's not even that he's more outgoing then her.

She decides that the difference between them, the only one that she can really see mattering, is that Luffy has a dream.

So, she decides to have one too.

When their grandfather comes back again, he decides the small village has been too much for the twins. He relocates them deep into the forest. For all his eccentricities, he is trying his hardest for his grandchildren. Unfortunately, the two don't know this and fear that each step further into the forest brings them closer to a ravine he will use to train them.

Instead he offers them a home. Or what he calls home. He tells them they will live here now. But she's confused.

"There's already people here." She points out, quite reasonably. That sets her grandfather off into big guffaws of laughter. Luffy joins in with his lighter 'shishishishi', not at her comment but at the happiness the older man exudes.

The bandits— and they are clearly bandits, reminding her of the men that Shanks and his crew faced down just a few short weeks ago—looks less amused at her comment.

They start to scream back and forth, a bandit and her grandfather, but she's no longer paying attention. Her and Luffy have discovered a boy walking out of the forest. He's dragging a giant animal behind him and a child so near their age is an amazing thing. Luffy and her have no real friends down in their village, the children all much older or younger then the two. She starts forward to say hello, and Luffy beats her with his cheerful greeting.

The boy is unamused. He looks at them with something that she doesn't recognize—not yet, she's too young— and it makes her stand straight up, tall and strong through her fear. He spews words that are so angry, but more then angry, they are so _hateful_ that she is shocked. But she doesn't drop her chin, nor does she take a step back.

That's what Luffy does. Her brother looks broken hearted and doesn't quite manage to dodge the rock that the boy flicks at Luffy's head. And thats the final straw.

She doesn't like him. She doesn't like how he treated Luffy. And he had better not do that again. She tells him all this.

His eyes stay flat. Why would he care what she thinks?

That's how gramps leaves them. He does nothing else to help them get along. And so she decides to play peacemaker. Luffy, her lovable brother, wants nothing more then to be friends with Ace. She's more reserved. She wants to be friends too; who doesn't like meeting new people?

But Ace isn't a nice person. He's rude and mean. He hurt Luffy. More importantly, he continues to hurt Luffy; everyday the pair trail after Ace through the forest, trying to go wherever he is going. Everyday the two fail. Once, she was certain they'd caught up to him, but then Luffy was falling and she didn't even have time to think before she was jumping into the ravine after him.

When they finally make it though the forest, the siblings are assailed with the ugliest sight they've ever seen. The smell is almost intolerable. The people look like walking skeletons, wasting away in their skin, their eyes already dead.

Thats not that they focus on; instead they find Ace. And another boy. Sabo. The pair look like unlikely friends. She wonders how Ace can change from the rude boy who lives with her to this vibrant kid. Because here, with this other boy, he is showing life that she hasn't seen before. His cheeks look like they hurt from how much he's smiling. He bounces, unable to sit still.

And the other boy looks just as happy. He has a near constant smile on his face. Even though she doesn't like Ace, eve though she's waiting for him to apologize for hitting her brother, she allows Luffy to pull her into the clearing and introduce the two of them.

Ace hits them wth the same venom they are used to. He is furious that they have managed to follow him. Still, this time she joins Luffy in his persistence. These two boys look _fun._ She's never seen Ace look so alive in all the time she's lived with him. Why wouldn't she want to be friends with the other boys?

Of course it doesn't actually do anything. More shouting yelling and arguing. She ignores it; she's never bothered listening when someone is saying something she doesn't want to hear. Luffy is just as bad as her. They persist in following the two around all day.

Until, of course, something goes wrong. Luffy is made of rubber. He will carry no scars from that day.

She will always have the reminder of her pain. Luffy was hurt worse; his body could handle worse pain. They bring out a glove with spikes on it that make her whimper in sympathy.

But just because Luffy was hurt worse doesn't distract from her own pain. She has a big blotchy scar on her cheek, just over her jaw line where the pirate had struck her face and her face had torn open. She doesn't mind as much as Ace and Sabo do. Luffy just giggles and point out that they match—he has a scar on his face too from when he was much younger.

Thats how it begins, this new chapter in her life. And it is so different from the small, enchanting life that Luffy and her shared down in their small village. But she wouldn't trade it for the world. Because now she has brothers. Brothers to fight with, play with, take care of, to love.

She loves all her brothers. If you ask her who she loves more, she can't answer you. Because each one has a special place in her heart. Luffy is her twin. He's always been there and she cant imagine him not being there, as permanent and necessary as her right hand.

Ace too is there for her now. He reminds her of her grandfather. Ace is gruff with his love. He tells the younger siblings to stop crying and to stop being weak. They comply as best they can. But he still loves them, still dotes on them. Just privately, in his own brusque way.

But truly, it's Sabo that she spends most of her day with. In Sabo she finds learning and knowledge. Makino had taught her and Luffy how to read. And she's not stupid. Neither is Luffy, or Ace for that matter. But Ace and Luffy have their own private ambitions. They have their own dreams and skills. To them, books and newspapers are pointless.

But to her, they are a gateway. And Sabo gets it. Because she's not stupid, but Sabo is so smart sometimes she wonders if she isn't just a little bit dumb. Sabo is so intelligent, but kind. He shows her how to read all the newspapers they find in the grey terminal. He practices writing letters with her in the dirt. Everyday he has a new word for her to learn. She feels guilty for taking up his time, but she wouldn't trade it for the world.

She doesn't have a dream yet. Not like her brothers. She confessed it to them after they swore their vow over a cup of stolen sake each. But that doesn't bother them. Ace latches on to something other then her lack of a dream: what does bother them is that she wants to be their brother.

"But you'd be our sister." Luffy is exasperated.

She refuses, her face set. It's the same annoyance she had with being called Pirate 'Queen'. Its a title, a formality, something that detracts from the value of _being._ She is first and foremost a person. So why does her title, any title, have to be detracted by anything else. She doesn't want to be a 'sister' someone that needs protection. She wants to be a 'brother' someone that is just free to go on adventures.

Sabo gets is first. He's been teaching her for months now, he knows how she thinks. He's seen her correct him when she says gender proper words. ("Its not a fisherwoman, just call them a fisherman and say whether its a boy or a girl! Why do you need a whole different word for the same thing?!") He hasn't managed to impress on her that sometimes _words matter._ But there's no helping this. He tries to explain that being called a sister isn't demeaning or bad. It just is.

But in this, she feels like she is years ahead of Sabo in her thoughts. He doesn't yet get that words have control over thought. And that by changing a title or a name changes how people think, without even realizing it. Because she's not weak, but calling herself someone's sister feels inherently weaker then someone brother. It had connotations, not that she even knows that the word connotations means. And thats something she cant stand—to be judged incorrectly based on word choice. Word choice that she doesn't get a say in.

"I don't think she wants to be a boy." She shakes her head, agreeing with Sabo's assessment. "She just doesn't want to be known for being a girl. It's weird but I kind of get it." He shrugs, allowing it.

Ace grunts. "As long as you're not a cry baby." He agrees.

Luffy is the only one that hesitates. "But your my sister."

She nods, her trademark goofy grin on her face. "And now I'll be your brother too."

Thats all it takes to convince him.

They are both her older brothers; neither one is older or if they've decided that one is, they never bothered to mention it to her and Luffy. Similarly, both Luffy and her have taken the 'younger brothers' role. They're not quite sure whose older, and the question has never come to mind with Garp around, perhaps the only person who really knows the truth.

It doesn't bother her, but Sabo is curious. He explains that his dream is to navigate the whole globe and write a story about it, about what happened.

"So many books are— _lies._ I want to write something that is just the truth. About my adventure. How can you start your journey without knowing the truth about yourself?"

Its as true a comment as any and she shrugs laughing it off. "I guess I'll have to ask Grandpa then!"

That proves a fruitless task. Gramps is scary when he comes to visit. He's shocked to find that another kid showed up, almost more surprised then Dadan, the kind bandit that takes care of them. But he gets over it quickly and starts in with his personal training on all the kids around him, sparing no one. When she finally remembers and asks, right before he leaves again for who knows how long, Luffy sits up surprised at the question. Ace too looks up curious but trying to hide it.

But gramps is surprised by the question, unable to answer his eager charges. "I never asked actually."

Such a simple answer, completely expected of someone from their scatterbrained family. It leaves her, Ace, and Luffy laughing and Sabo face palming.

When Sabo leaves, its as if a sudden rift is opened in her life.

If you ask her which brother she loves more, she wont have an answer for you.

But if you ask her which brother she is around more…well it's obviously Sabo. He teaches her every morning, reviewing past words and introducing new ones. Sabo land is full of books that he reads to her every night. Luffy and Ace fall asleep early on, but she finds that she can't just stop reading without knowing the end of the story.

So when Sabo leaves, she cries. And when Ace tells Bluejam that the three of them will work, she complies. She moves boxes and crates with tears streaming down her face, snot running down into her frayed shirt.

And she only stops crying when Bluejam tells them what is actually happening. When she finds out about the fire, about all the people in danger, themselves included, she forces herself to stop crying, a mental voice that sounds just like Ace's commanding her to stop being a cry baby.

She's no help at getting free. But she doesn't cry. Her ever present smile is absent from her face. When Ace cuts her free, she drops to the floor. Without any preamble, she moves towards Luffy, helping him get up. Because they need to get away from this fire. It's raging, this evil fire, for all that fire can be good or evil and its dangerous to be here. The flames are much to large to stay and help any of the unfortunate souls who call grey terminal their home.

When the pirates come back, she is terrified. But she doesn't cry. Because theres no time to be a crybaby right now. Because Luffy is in danger, and so is Ace and theres no way out. And just when she's going to cry out, to try and let out the bubble of panic that has been building in her, Ace lets out a roar.

Everyone around them drops. She doesn't question it, instead scrambling closer to her older brother. "Do it again!" He has no idea what she's talking about, but he wont take his eyes off of Luffy. She doesn't know how to describe it but she doesn't have to. Suddenly Dadan is there, and so are the rest of the bandits. She is quickly snatched up, and luffy as well. Ace however refuses to go. No one listens as she hotly shouts that she wont leave either. Maybe they don't listen because as she breathes into shout, the thick smoke chokes her, leaving her gasping for air.

Her eyes sting from the smoke the entire way back. She still doesn't cry. She will cry, she decides, when Ace is there to tell her to stop crying. She tells Luffy the same thing, and it leaves him sucking back his tears and nodding in agreement. She doesn't try to fall asleep, instead lying awake late into the night, straining her ears to hear for any sign of Dadan. She doesn't remember falling asleep.

When she wakes up, she jerks up from the mat on the floor. Luffy is next to her, still sleeping, although not for long if she has to guess. Ace is no where to be found. Her heart sinks because Sabo is not here either. Her only comfort is that he was no where near the fire. Privately she thinks that she will never again feel like she is _away_ from the fire. The scent of smoke is heavy even here at Dadan's house, many miles away.

Dadan is not here either. The other bandits are nervous, huddled in small groups, eyeing the trailing smoke coming from grey terminal. None of them say anything to Luffy or her though. Instead they bring them food and leave them alone. She eats as much as she is able, but it tastes like ash. She only manages a few mouthfuls. Luffy manages even less.

One of the words that Sabo taught her is pregnant. He explained that it was when a woman was expecting a baby. But he also explains that it can mean for a situation. When you expect something to happen. She didn't understand, not at the time, but she dutifully memorized the definitions.

Now she feels like she's walking through sludge. Every movement is heavy and hard to make. The next few days are long as they wait for some sign, some kind of news. It's as if she knows that lightening is going to strike, she just doesn't know where. This heavy anticipation, she understands now, is the pregnant urgency that Sabo was speaking about.

When they finally come back, and its both Dadan and Ace, its like the lightening missed and the storm broke. She can finally breathe again, because she has one of her brothers back. Luffy too perks up. She has a brilliant smile back on her face, and its like the whole world is right.

She has yet to drop the smile on her face when the hut receives news of Sabo's death. It's a stab to the gut. She laughs because that just _cant_ be true. Ace survived that giant fire and carried Dadan back on his back. Sabo was _safe._ Inside of walls meant to protect him. Sabo, her older brother was meant to be alive.

She stops laughing when Dadan gives her a firm slap. The she cries. Deep gut wrenching sobs. Ace reads the letter outlaid to them all. It gives no satisfaction. No closure for her. Sabo hadn't managed his dream; he hand't died free. He'd died, still in the shadow of the kingdom that oppressed him. Luffy begs Ace for comfort and he complies. He promises that he'll never die.

Ace has taken a special place in her heart. Just like Luffy's promise to be Pirate King, she believes Ace when he makes her a promise. Still, she has to squash back her disbelief of Ace's newest declaration. Because she's sure that Sabo would've said the same thing just a few days ago. When he was still alive.

Life on the mountain is quiet for the next few days. After a while, they fall back into their old habits. They learn how to smile again. They also learn how to laugh, although thats more difficult. Sometimes, then they least expect it, when the forget that Sabo's dead, they turn to hear his snarky retort. Only empty air greets them.

Ace loves his siblings. He's awkward in his love, but she knows its there. Luffy accepts Ace when he slides his mat closer to the group so they all sleep together. She accepts it when he gives her a belated birthday gift months away from her birthday.

"I'll treasure it." Its a top hat. So similar to the one Sabo used to wear. Goggles are on it as well, broken, but there.

He burns red and looks away from her. "It's not the same one. It just looked similar so…" He trails off, but she laughs at him and jumps up giving him a giant hug. He lets her get away with a few extra seconds before he pushes her off into the dirt.

Their few short years with Ace fly by. He asks for her help in learning manners, and she realizes that she is slightly more polite then her twin. She explains Makino's influence. The bartender has been up to visit and was sad to hear about their lost brother. She's sure that Makino will teach Ace what he wants to know. She promises to go with him so he's not learning alone.

He grumbles but let her hold his hand the whole way down the mountain, his palms sweaty with nerves, so she knows he doesn't mean it.

The years fly by. She grows strong. Luffy even more so. Ace far surpasses both of them. Even as a team, her and Luffy lose. One day, before she begins fighting, Ace passes her a pipe. Its not Sabo's— they have no idea what happened to his— but Ace's old one. Still, its how Sabo fought, and she picks it up in earnest.

Before Ace leaves she lets her brothers know that she's finally decided on her dream.

"Sabo didn't die." She explains. "Because I'm going to let him live on through me. I'm going to write a book. About the world. About my adventure. And I'm going to change the world."

She doesn't explain any further, doesn't quite have the words to describe the change she wants to enact. Because sometimes that change is as big as ocean, and sometimes as small as making sure she can smile through the day. But it's her dream, one of her two dreams she decides. To change the world, somehow, someway. And to write about it. To write a book that lets the world know about her adventure and the truth of the world.

Luffy just laughs and gives her a hearty pat on the back.

"About time you finally picked a dream." He doesn't voice any doubt that she will manage it and for that she's grateful.

Ace just smiles, lost in thought.

He settles on a grin. Before he leaves, he tells them to keep training hard. He tells them that he'll be waiting for them. He tells them that he loves them, even though they're his stupid annoying younger siblings. He tells them all this and more.

Out loud he only says, "Welp, Ill be off then. See you guys in a few years!"

The two just smile and give their obnoxiously large grins back. We love you too, they don't say as they watch him sail off.

Her and Luffy train hard. Luffy has a training partner in her, a dutiful sparing partner who will always get up and never complain that he punches too hard. Gramps comes by a few times and trains them as well. She's trying her absolute best to replicate 'fists of love' and while initially a rare occurrence, she's slowly getting better them. Gramps cried when she first did it in front of him. It was all very strange, but just like the Monkey family, so she didn't question it and just took the advice he passed down to her.

She goes down to visit Makino more often. As she gets older she looks more similar and more different to her brother. All her childhood she'd left her hair cropped short, in the same style as Luffy. She decides she rather likes it short and cut off all the hair that Makino has coerced her into growing out since Ace has left.

She's thin and wiry. Unlike Luffy, who is made of rubber, her limbs are taut with muscle. Theres no excess fat on her body, although there are plenty of scars. The only one that bothers her is the one on her arm. She'd received it the day of the grey terminal fire and it reminds her of fire, something that occasionally pops up in her nightmares. She's deceptively thin; however, her body is like a grasshopper: she packs a punch, and has more speed then someone would expect.

Although Luffy opts for a bright red vest and while she agrees with the color choice, she chooses something different.

It doesn't suit her, for all their similarities in appearance. It suits Luffy though; It matches his straw hat and his personality.

But for her top hat—and her personality— she decides on a white ruffled tank top that she found in the grey terminal. There was a whole parcel there, as if someone had thrown out an entire children wardrobe. She'd snapped them all up. Something about the style was just like Sabo and she couldn't leave them along. While the ruffles and the shirts themselves take after Sabo, the sleeves cannot be tolerated and she rips them off. With the sleeves ripped off, she can feel Ace's influence.

She ignores the fact that her burn scar shows with the sleeves removed; it's so tiny and faded that it can almost be mistaken for a weird freckle or a misshapen birth mark. Almost.

She need wear nothing to remind her of Luffy; they have the same face, identical hair color and smiles so that when she looks in a mirror, its like seeing Luffy with the scars in all the wrong places.

She may have lost her smile after Sabo died, but over the years, she's found it again. Almost constantly, its plastered on her face. Just like her twin and her gramps, a smiling face is her default look. However, unlike her brother, her eyes show a sharp intelligence. She never stopped reading and she's only grown Sabo's collection. This is a feature all her own. She's never unlearned her caution form childhood and now she wears it openly—curiosity tempered with wary intelligence.

She's visiting the tiny windmill village today, gathering supplies, preparing to leave. Her and Luffy's birthday is finally arrived. She knows she cant take all her collected books with her. She loves the now thrice large collection. However, on the ocean, it's not feasible to bring a small library with ones self. But she only needs one, really.

She used some of her portion of the treasure in advance. She's ordered a book, a journal. It's not a true captains log, much larger and more fine then a typical ships log. She admits she splurged a bit. The pages are thicker and absorb the ink, letting her words settle into the pages. The books is no larger then any other book in her library, but it is wide, with an obscene length of pages for her to desecrate.

Inside she's already begun her story. She doesn't know who her parents are. To be quite honest, she knows nothing about her family, besides the fact that her grandfather is a marine and Luffy is her brother. Without her constant readings of newspapers, she would be surprised to find out that Gramps is a world renowned Marine, a war hero.

But because she discovered that later, thats not how her journal starts. Instead, she begins by explaining her upbringing in the small windmill village. She tells the story of meeting her brothers, in all its unpleasant details. It hurt to remember how _mean_ Ace had been upon meeting the twins. But she writes its as true as she can remember: this book with be a factual and true accounting of her experiences.

She likes the way that sounds and inks a title on the front of the book:

"A Factual Accounting of the World's History" By A Traveler

The journal so far is up to date. She has included snippets of newspaper and even dedicated a full page to each of Ace's bounty posters. She's thrilled to see his name, wherever it is and the journal reflects Ace's transition from lonesome pirate to captain of the Spade pirates. Lately she's seen articles about Ace becoming second commander to Whitebeard. It's an impressive accomplishment and she's bursting with pride.

She also ordered a new leather cord that she can wrap around her wax treated pouch.

The pouch is another acquisition of the grey terminal trash heap, along with her library and her clothes. It's a small satchel that she keeps attached to her waist, next to her trusty pipe. The bag is waterproof, as best as it can be, and it is where she keeps her log. The strap is a safety precaution, something she wants across her body as an extra assurance of the safety of her book.

Luffy is already ready to leave the island. He's been ready for weeks now, but he has kept his promise and will leave on his 17th birthday, the same as Ace; the same as Sabo had planned.

Makino and the rest of the town is there to see them off. Luffy asks her one more time to join him, be his first crew member. She laughs at him and tells him to leave the invitation open.

Deep down, they both know she has no interest in taking it. She has no desire in following someone else's foot steps— she wants to make her own way through the world. Its why she's not leaving with Luffy; She will leave from the port near Gao kingdom, where she has purchased a cheap ticket on a small merchant vessel. While Luffy and Ace both immediately headed north, towards the eventual Grand Line, she will head west towards whatever she finds, before she heads north.

She waves off Luffy and wishes him a safe trip. He yells exuberantly that he _will_ be the pirate king and she just laughs and grins back, knowing without a shadow of doubt that he's telling the truth.

She doesn't cry when Luffy leaves, although she watches until he crosses the horizon. She did the same thing when Ace left, and she didn't cry then either. Their older brother doesn't like cry babies— has impressed on her that tears make her weaker. As such, she tries her best to not let her tears show, even when Makino tells her "A good cry can make everything better."

Luffy had swept into the town and left in a whirlwind. There was hardly anytime for goodbyes, and while everyone had known he was leaving _eventually_ , it was still a shock to just have him _gone._

She's much slower in her departure, while she finishes gathering supplies in a waterproof backpack. Makino gets a heartfelt goodbye, although there are no tears from either girl—she makes sure to stress that this is a happy occasion.

The mayor too gets a goodbye, he's always been there for her and Luffy, like a grumpy uncle.

Few other townspeople get more then a wave and a cheerful grin. They haven't been part of her life in years. She grabs the last few items and, task completed, heads back to Dadan's house. All of the bandits get a goodbye. Individually and by name. If Ace and Luffy have been her brothers, then the bandits have been cousins and close neighbors. Makino had been a surrogate mother in some ways. In other ways Dadan has been the same. She drinks all night, reminiscing with Dadan. She doesn't touch the alcohol Dadan pulls out, instead opting for water. When she leaves in the early morning, Dadan is still passed out from the night before. The bandits too are still asleep.

She doesn't bother waking them. If their memory of her is the party of the night before, she will be satisfied.


	2. Preliminary Observations

The journey to Gao's port is quick. Much quicker then her and Luffy's youthful stalking of Ace. None of the animals bother her, but even if they did, she's no longer worried. Luffy and her have sparred daily for years. She can win four times out of ten, and although she wants to get stronger, for now she knows this will be all she needs.

Once at the port, she picks out her ship and moves forward. It's a medium sized vessel— for East Blue anyway. Although its primary purpose is fishing, it also moves passengers willing to deal with slightly delayed trips times.

Because even East Blue, the weakest of the seas, has pirates, every ship always has a small group of mercenaries and bounty hunters on board. It's how she discovered the ship in the first place. Ido, one of the bandits at Dadan's had arrived on the island via this ship, having first been a mercenary for hire at the captains request before discovering banditry.

She's timed the beginning of her journey well. Although the ship doesn't leave for a few hours, she makes her way on board early, the hustle and bustle of the early morning port making the otherwise calm stillness of dawn fade into memory. The skipper on watch at the boarding plank barely glances at her ticket, doesn't bother to check it against her ID card. She's glad. She hadn't bothered to dredge out the card from her bag and knowing her luck, it's at the very bottom of her bag.

The card is something she had to ask her grandfather for. Every citizen of the world government is entitled to a card, and to travel between the different nations, she's required to provide the documentation if asked. Gramps had hummed and hah'd until he finally promised to bring it with him next time.

When he finally provided her with it, it was blank in numerous places, including her parents and her birthplace. Gramps just laughed it off and she joined him. No point in taking life too seriously, and hopefully no marines viewing her identification later would be mad at the sparsely filled, but properly issued to World Government regulation card.

Luffy had received a card as well. Gramps told them both to use it when they presented themselves to Shelltown— they would need it to enroll in the marines, and while a new one could be ordered for them, it would be faster and easier to just have it ready.

She doesn't think that Luffy has ever lost something faster then that card.

She stands at the bow when the ship finally departs. Its mid morning, and the crew is running round, rigging sails and tying knots. The noise is strongly cathartic to her, along with the gentle rolling of the waves. She hopes that she's not in anyones way where she's standing, but she can't imagine starting off her journey standing anywhere else.

When they finally push off from the dock, she grins into the wind, leaning forward against the bow and smiling at the vast expanse of ocean. She doesn't bother to look back at the island where she grew up— theres nothing there for her. Ace and Luffy have left for good; Sabo's body was never discovered. Theres no grave marker for him and instead she looks to the sea as his grave. She's already said her goodbyes. Even when the passengers around her remark that the island is no longer in sight, she doesn't turn her head. She keeps her gaze ahead, wondering whats in store.

It takes 2 weeks for the ship to reach the next island over from Dawn. A few of her fellow passengers are disgruntled. The ticket _was_ purchased with the goal of a one week voyage. But the ship had a poor haul of fish in the first week and the captain decided to stay out for another week, hoping for a change in luck. She thinks he chose wisely, eyeing the haul of fish in barnacled net just hoisted onto the deck. She doesn't mind anyway. She's spent this time meeting the different crew members of the ship. This is how she begins her jounral; finally speaking about things she's learning in the moment, rather then recording the past events on Dawn Island.

She finds herself engaged in conversation constatnyl. The sailors and mercenaries both have something to say, be it a snarky aside or a wistful sigh. So, she asks for their stories. Few have anything truly interesting—that is to say worthwhile—to say and she notes as much in her log. She's trying to document history, not write about the woes of East Blue domestic life. However she notes anything that she finds interesting as well, careful to be faithful and impartial to the tale when she can.

' **The men of** **_Thy Lady's Eye_** **are a mostly crew of fisherman. Most all of the crew chose the profession because its what their father did and his father before them. However, among the crew are two men who belay intrigue. One is a former marine, injured in a pirate attack that lost him his three fingers on his left hand and his pinky on his right hand. He's faster at rigging then any other man on board, even those with a fullest of fingers. He's been all the way up through grand line and speaks of having tropical fruit one morning and warns of frostbite just hours later on the next island over.**

 **The other man, Samuel, is a former pirate from the same village that Edward Newgate, The Whitebeard, was born in. He hardly remembers the man, but admits that Whiteboard's exploits made him yearn for a life on the sea. While one may wonder how someone can be a former pirate, Sammy never received a bounty and retired from his captainship, relinquishing it to his first mate. His former crew's whereabout are currently unknown, but Sammy is adamant that the 'Soza Pirates' will surely still be prospering, even many years after his departure.'**

She wonders but doesn't include Sammy's careful caution of the former marine. Speculation, she remembers Sabo telling her many years ago, cannot be included without a basis in truth. She will stick to recording the facts as they are presented.

The two weeks had passed quickly. The sea air, the gentle rocking, the call of gulls; is so very relaxing that she felt as if she had come home at last. The people she spoke too just make it feel more so. She was surprised. It was, and wasn't, very hard to get people to open up about each other. The people who just wanted to open their mouths and chat often and in the end really had nothing to say. And even the more gregarious fellows who did have interesting conversations often didn't open up with tales of their stories.

She has discovered that although people are often _very_ willing to speak about themselves, they need to be asked the proper questions to prompt them along, and to get them talking about the stories of actual interest.

Sammy, after all, hadn't been discovered until the second to last day on the ship.

The island she's landed on is still a part of Gao Kingdom, same as almost 16 other islands in East Blue. However, the Kingdom of Gao is so self absorbed and isolated that she hardly believes the people on the islands know of which Kingdom they are subjects. Rather, they just pay their taxes to the Marines when they come and then go on with their lives.

She ambles along, interested in the different vegetation of this island. Although the island is only one week away from her home, its much more arid and rocky then her own verifiable jungle of a residence. The people are the same, however, and the people were the same on the ship as well, now she thinks about it. She takes Makino's advice and heads to the nearest bar.

"The bar is the hub of any small village. You'll hear the most stories there, and the most information if that what you're looking for. Of course, you'll have to sort through whats a story and a piece of gossip, but you're smart enough for that."

Indeed, she thinks she is. This bar is full of nothing but softies. Upstart pirates with hardly a ship to their name, hardly a threat, linger in corners, throwing glares at the other upstart pirates. Bandits and mercenaries from all fishing ships are in the middle of the bar. She swears one of the men from her very own ship is telling tales of a hurricane that held up their trip by nearly a week. The other men at the table are buying the bull, and exaggerating their own trips in turn.

She notes the upheaval in tales of bravery and daring in her journal, idly writing down her thoughts on the town as the bar grows louder and bawdier—more and more drunk. She finishes up her thoughts — **"A fairly boring and underwhelming start to my journey. Will move on to the next island soon and hopefully find adventure there."—** and rises from her place at the back of the room. She deftly moves to the front and leans across the bar, having avoided snatches at her legs and behind more from her experience with fighting then any real practice in a bar; no one would have dared touched Makino's surrogate daughter in her line of sight.

When the harried bartender finally notices her, she just grins at him and motions to the precarious piling up of glasses behind the bar.

"I have plenty of experience. Any way I can help you out tonight in turn for a room to stay the night?" He huffs at her audacity but tells her to hop on back. She takes it literally and two-seconds later she's behind the bar and he's smacking his forehead. She laughs and he cant help but laugh too. He motions to the sink and she gets to work cleaning the glasses.

The work is simple, if not easy, and she enjoys herself chatting wth patrons and relaxing in a familiar environment. The bar closes late that night and she is ushered to a small but clean room as the sun just begins to peak out. She gratefully knocks out and knows no more.

When she wakes up, she goes back to the port. While nowhere the size of Gao's, this port is filled with many more ships, pirate and merchant alike. The people are bustling around and she's careful to keep her wits about her, alert for pick pockets, rampant among the Grey Terminal. Ace had tried to teach her and Luffy the skill, but neither of them had the subtlety required to be any good ai it. She smiles to herself at the memory as she searches the port.

It takes her sometime to find the ship she's looking for, _The Widowmaker,_ the vessel of the bandana pirates. She'd chatted with the first mate the night before and he'd drunkly mentioned the crews plans to make their way towards Gold Island. It's further up in East Blue and she's eager to make her way toward the Grand Line.

The captain of the ship, who is not surprisingly wearing a bandana as a neckerchief, is unsurprisingly not impressed with her request. Why would he want to take a nobody on his ship. He knows as well as any other sailor that a female on board is bad luck and just asking for trouble.

But she doesn't relent. This was the most interesting crew she'd spoken to last night, and thats saying something because they were perhaps the blandest people she'd ever met. She refuses to stay on this island. There's nothing here for her and she can feel it—there must be some adventure to be found on the sea.

She's never been one to accept no for an answer and once the First Mate sheepishly walks by and admits to the captain that he'd promised her a place on board the night before, he snaps a "fine" and waves his hand wide, sarcastically welcoming her aboard. She grins and jumps up, swinging herself on using the half hanging rigging.

The rest of the crew is wary of her at first, but she practices her interview skills with them and soon enough, she's broken the ice enough that they are acting like old friends. The crew passes a marine ship far off and she watches as they jump into action to preemptively avoid the encounter. It's an impressive bit of leadership from the captain as he orders sails unfurled and shifts to the rudder. In just a few moments, the marine ship is a distant speck and the crew is sighing in relief. The 'encounter' if you could call it that, was less then five minutes and the ship was never in verifiable danger.

It was a respectable bit of maneuvering and she jots down as much in her journal, noting that the Captain, who hadn't even been on deck when the crows nest had shouted the call, responded quickly, and efficiently.

Unfortunately, this is the most interesting thing the crew has to offer for her. Although her two week journey from Dawn Island to Skopl Island—a plot of land so unremarkable and boring that it can't be found on most maps— had some interesting talks, this one is boring. When the crew says that they are stopping off in Baratie Restaurant, she hops at the chance to leave the group. She, along with half the crew, is not quite sure how, or why, they ended up near the floating restaurant, because its near the middle of east blue and Gold Island is all the way in the south west of the ocean. The navigator stutters out excuses of currents and bad winds and evasive maritime maneuvers while the captain orders the crew to drop anchor.

She helps with the process of dropping anchor, pulling in sails and otherwise ties endless knots. Its a fun process, no matter how much the crew playfully complains and she laughs off their lighthearted annoyances. She's found that knot tying is both fun and relaxing and simple— and besides every seasoned sailor has a different type of knot to teach her.

When they're finally done trying the last sail back and ready, the captain drops a dinghy down the side and hops in. His navigator and two regular crew members jump aboard as well. Looking down and grinning, she ignores the captains order to " _Just wait for it to stop shaking, then come in, we'll wait—oh for fucks sake"_ as she flops down as well.

She carries her bag and her satchel has her gold and her journal in it. She's left nothing on the ship and the captain raises his eyebrows as the small boat begins the short distance to the restaurant. She just shrugs and grins. She's looking for adventure and _The Widowmaker_ isn't quite it. He says nothing, not that there is anything to say; she'd never been a member of the crew and while she had grown on both him and whole crew, she'd said from the night in the bar with the first mate that she was just looking for transportation.

When they dock at the restaurant, she pops up and leaps over the water to the _Baratie_ ship. It's a beauty, with an interesting design and a welcoming sight after the waterlogged food she had been fed this morning. The captain and the rest of the crew rise form the ship as well. They stand tall and try to look intimidating. She knows they need a map or at least some kind of directions to make their way back considering the navigator has brought them so far off course.

She walks in, unconcerned with their plight. To stress the separation, she politely asks for a table for one. As she's being lead away, she hears the captain say something in a low, supposedly intimidating voice. She lets out a quick 'shishishi', but hides her mouth behind her hands as the maitre d snaps back at the captain, unenthused at the challenge. The host walking to her table glances at her curious at the laugh, but she just grins back and doesn't answer.

Its sad to see the captain get quite literally tossed off the ship, but she gives him a friendly wave. He scowls at her, but the navigator gives her a cheery goodbye wave. After the disruption is settled, she glances at her menu. Many of the options are things she's never heard of. Others are things that she's only read about and never actually tried.

If she were Luffy, she would ask for all of the meat. If she were Ace, she would ask for the spiciest dish they have and then double and triple the portion. If she was Sabo…well he would probably have tried many of the dishes, considering his noble heritage. Or maybe just plain meat because sometimes he had liked to be contrary just to prove he _wasn't_ very noble like.

But because she's not them, she simply tells the waiter: "I trust the chef's recommendation."

He grins widely at that and it's not long before course after course are being brought out. The chef is a tall blonde man with weirdly shaped eyebrows and he fawns over her because she's a "beautiful damsel, in dire need of sustenance."

She ignores his obnoxious but endearing commentary and focuses on his dishes. They taste amazing. He's reluctantly walking back to the kitchen when she calls him back, eagerly ripping her journal out of her bag. He dances back to the table and she pushes back the chair opposite her for him to sit in. He hesitates but she beckons again.

He seems torn. "Its not polite for the chef to interrupt the meal…"

"You're not interrupting! I couldn't finish this in peace, I have too many questions I need to ask you." Its true. The food is delicious. It deserves a place in her book. If someone in the far future is using her book as a travel guide of East Blue, they need to know about Baratie's Floating Restaurant.

She hits him with a barrage of questions, asking him details about the ship, about its ownership, the inspiration for the dishes. He seems delighted and while he talks, she snacks on the starter courses. As he talks, she digs, because every question she gets answered seems to reveal another layer of the chef. She jots down notes in her log as she talks, afterwards explaining it to him.

"I'm writing a book about my adventures. As truthful as I can possibly make it, so that someone else can read it and see what the world is really like, from my point of view anyway. Unbiased is the term. It's one of my dreams."

His eyes light up at the word dream and she digs in. By this time a short old man with a braided mustache has attacked the chef and taken his place. She adds notes on him too.

" ** _Baratie,_** **the floating restaurant on the sea can be found fairly central in East Blue. The ship is a sight for sore eyes, even on the calm waters of this relaxed sea. After making my way here accidentally, due to a navigator mishap on** ** _The Widowmaker,_** **I left the ship and decided to try the dining experience of new ship. I requested only the chef's recommendations because there was were too many things I didn't even recognize on the menu. Even still I was overwhelmed with the choices provided from my request. The plates are mainly fish, however the restaurant doesn't shy away from other seafood, like crawfish, shrimp and lobster. Bottom feeder's in Dawn had been seen as peasant food, nothing that someone from inner Gao would ever eat and no restaurant had served them. Here, the oysters and shrimp prepared as an appetizer are the most decadent meals I've ever had and nothing from the inner kingdom even compares. Sanji, head chef behind only the owner of the restaurant, personally prepared my dishes, chasing both the selection and the order of courses.**

 **While slightly over enthusiastic in his original approach, Sanji calmed down soon thereafter and explained his interest in cooking as well as what makes Baratie better then other restaurants; the passion of the cooks. Sanji explained that he wakes early, often before sunrise in preparation of biscuits and dough for dishes. Certain sauces need hours to properly prepare and some plates take days of prep work to complete. Ramen, he explains, requires at** ** _least_** **3 days to make a proper broth. However, when he wakes to complete these tasks, he's not alone. The kitchen is busy with chefs getting prepared for the new day.**

 **As far as chefs go, Sanji explained that on the sea, this kind of passion was only to be expected. "When you're on the ocean, you better hope you have a good chef to back you up. You cant eat money, or clothes, or even a fancy ship. You'll starve easily if you're not prepared."**

 **When pressed further, Sanji explained that his origins in Baratie lie in just such a situation. He had been stranded after a pirate attack and was left with a bag of riches and very little food. Owner Zeff, also stuck on the crop of rocks, sacrificed his own leg to stave off his hunger. The two jointly opened Baratie so that anyone that was hungry could come here and get a decent meal.**

 **"** **I know what its like, to be starving." Sanji stated plainly, a very serious look to his face, just before being kicked right in the back of his head by a wooden leg. It broke the table, but that was fine. I had already noticed that Baratie is a rather violent restaurant. Most of the chefs are former pirates themselves and have no compunctions with fighting; either amongst themselves or with unruly customers. It reminds me of home.**

 **The intruder was a welcome one: owner Zeff, bothered by Sanji's break, came over to put him back to work. I begged him to have a seat and interview with me. He had no words to say but this, " I work here with my pride as a chef on the line. The food is good. It will always be good, or it wont get sent out of the kitchen. That's my pride and I wont tarnish it on subpar tasting food.""**

She grinned, glad for the addition to her log. She grabbed her bowl of cockles and muscles stew which had remarkably remained upright when the table collapsed. The roll that came with it had fallen to the floor but she ignored that and snatched it up anyway. She sat in her seat, bowl in hand while she ate and watched the restaurant around her. She had to consciously make herself not tap the bread roll before biting into it; this was her second one and when she had done it to the first she'd giggled guilty at the blondes chef's scandalized look.

Unfortunately, the reality of the sea meant that more often then not, and bread roll on the _Widowmaker_ and _Thy Lady's Eye_ had been infested with weevils. The best way to get rid of them, she'd discovered, was a hard rap or two on the table.

It was definitely insulting to the chefs at Baratie however, so she simply bit into the roll. It was remarkably tasty, fluffy and buttery, like nothing she'd had in weeks. It was decadent in a way that she felt she didn't deserve and she felt guilty eating it compared to what she'd grown accustomed to.

The whole restaurant followed the same decadent theme; two chandeliers hung and there were pillars that drew the eye. Although she could guess that they were structurally necessary, they were well down, painted and styled in a way to make them feel like art rather then 'ship'.

The tables each had a thick white cloth over them. Unused tables had no setting—it wouldn't make sense to throw glassware and plates on a table when one rough wave could tip it over—, however any with people were done up and properly set.

Makino had made sure to teach her how to eat properly and what manners were. In fact, she distinctly remembered having a few lessons with Ace on politeness and ettiequte that Makino had hosted for her. She'd walked Ace down the mountain when he asked her how to greet someone—while she was worlds away from Luffy, she knew that Makino would have the answers Ace needed. While he had grumbled the whole way down, he'd let her hold his hand too, so she knew he didn't really mean it. And when he'd gripped it harder and his palm got sweaty as they entered the bar, it let her know that he was glad she hadn't bothered Luffy with their excursion.

But that was neither here nor there—She'd gotten distracted. Makino had taught her table manners and she noticed that the set up here was much fancier then anything Makino had gotten around to showing her.

She spent the whole day there and begged for a hammock for the night. Owner Zeff allowed it but demanded work in the morning. She cheerfully agreed, knowing from experience that everyone can always use a dishwasher.

She learned much more about the workers of Baratie; it was an eclectic group, bound together by their love of cooking. While Sanji had the most in-depth background story, the rest of the workers had much to say as well. Some were former convicts, either pirates, bandits, or both. One man was a down on his luck father, needing money for his children and finding a place at the restaurant. Another was a marine trainee dropout, unable to complete the training for a new recruit, but also unable to drop his desire to live out on the sea.

She noted it all down. The men didn't seem to mind that she took notes. From their reactions, they were all learning much about each other. It was surprising, she realized, just how blind people were willing to be. There was such a vibrant history here to be discovered, but even the fellow chefs didn't realize how much was beneath the surface.

The men told stories about how they defended the ship from pirates, and how marines were often just as useless as the pirates. They often demanded special treatment or a discounted price. Owner Zeff snorted. That would never fly while he was around. She got around to speaking with Sanji again and this time she cornered him into naming his dream.

She carefully wrote it down, word for word as he described All Blue, knowing that she would never be able to show his passion with just words and for the first time regretting the limited power of words.

The next day she woke before the sun. The ship was all men, but she hadn't objected to a spare hammock in the same quarters. She'd just cheerfully warned that the men keep to themselves. Sanji valiantly defended her honor and so she'll never know if it was her threat or Sanji's that stopped any issues. Or perhaps the men deserved more credit then that and they wouldn't have tried anything regardless.

When she woke, she joined the men in the kitchen. It was just as Sanji said, with no one really speaking, everyone too tired to hold a conversation. Just after sunrise, the ship filled with the smell of fresh bread and savory cream sauces. She had begun telling the staff stories she'd overheard on her voyage to fill the silence and the room was finally waking up. She was relieved. She never particularly liked the quiet, preferring loud and noisy spaces, like the parties in Makino's bar or Dadan's home filled with Bandits.

Thankfully, the staff quickly woke up and cheered in all the right places in her stories. She told them about monsters traveled from Grand Line. She told children stories, made to frighten even adults of the dark. She told stories of exaggerated accounts of the great pirate crews. She even told some of the stories from her book. All while happily cleaning and scrubbing the endless line of pots and pans sent her way. When she finally finished, she grabbed Zeff one more time an asked him for an interview, a proper one.

He accepted this time. He was a fairly taciturn man and she felt like she was pulling teeth. However, soon the story emerged. A ship from grand line, a whole crew, and a passenger ship of civilians gone, just like that. She noted it down, her face serious.

"Thank you for telling me. I'll make sure they don't get forgotten." He just nods at her like she's stupid and she realizes that he already knew this, theres no other reason for him to tell her his former crew's story. Still, she beams that he trusted her enough with the memory of his crew.

In some ways, this story is more grim and personal then the short anecdotes she told from dawn to midday.

In others, it's the exact same; a story meant to be told to an audience.

So she does. She doesn't name the captain. Not here, not where so many people know him. But she tells the story of Zeff and his pirate crew to the kitchen staff at Baratie. And they Oh and Ah in all the right places, captivated by the story, all the way until their end. And she smiles because this isn't how she meant to change the world, but theres something to be said for remembering. Theres something powerful in the knowledge that she has _knowledge._ Because if she hadn't left Dawn Island, she would never had learned this story, the lives of over 50 pirates might have died a lonely death one day. But now she won't let that happen.

And that kind knowledge is enough to make her wonder. _What else doesn't she know? What else is there to discover?_

It's a dangerous thought. She doesn't know how dangerous yet, but she knows that its not a particularly _safe_ thought. Something stick in her gut. Her advent will be sullied with danger if she goes down that path; she knows it instinctively.

That just makes it more exciting.

She leaves that afternoon, having spent less then 24 hours in the restaurant. Theres no reason to dawdle. She hitches a ride with the supply ship, made up of two men and a small sailboat, hardly big enough for a single passenger, let alone the amount of food they will need to bring back. They just shrug it off and its none of her business to bother them.

She spends most of the journey reflecting on her new thought process. The spirit of a person, she decides, can be as important as the physical person. After all, isn't it the spirit of Sabo, living on through her, that made her begin this journal? She notes her thoughts and journals her overall mood after leaving the restaurant. She was there for only a short time, but the place made her feel so welcome. Its easily her favorite stop so far. She learned more about the men in this ship in one night then she did in the weeks on either of the other two ship she's been on.

When she'd arrived on other islands, she got too much attention. She's taken to only introducing herself by her personal name, leaving off her family name after too many people realized she was related to " _The_ Garp? The war hero? Really?! Whats he like?"

She planned on doing the opposite when she arrives in Louge Town. Although, she's still not sure why Baratie is gathering supplies from this island. She supposes its cheaper to go to a major city rather than a smaller town. But geographically, the island with Kokoyashi is closer. She heard a mumble of Arlong from one of the men, but they refused to go into more detail.

And isn't that an absurd notion? She knows who he is of course; anyone would if they picked up a newspaper every once in a while. But tis a ridiculous thought. After all, what on earth would a warlord be doing in East Blue? On Kokoyashi Island of all places? Theres no details forth coming from the men of Baratie, so she bids them adieu at the street market and makes her way towards the center of town. Theres a marine base here, and she knows Makino was right; the best place for information is, as always, the bar.

In this case, she picks a bar frequented by marines and marine recruits. Younger folks, easily taken in by alcohol and wild stories. So she introduces her self by her full name while she's here and makes a friend in the recruits and soldiers. She's truthful when she says that her grandfather is absolutely insane, but they just laugh it off. In turn, when she gently pries for details on Arlong, the marines oblige.

"We don't really trust them. The seven lords. At least thats what the captain says. Once a pirate, always a pirate, theres no coming back from that." A petty officer explains. She nods in agreement. The philosophy of the marines and most pirates is so different; she can't imagine one changing over to the other side, either which way. A title does not a man make.

Another recruit chimes in, "Yea, after all the warlords are all well and good, but they don't compare to the admirals!"

This earns a heart cheer around the bar and a call for another round. The patriotism is rolling and the marines are feeling good, but she cant help but sour the mood slightly.

"So then why is Arlong doing…something on Kokoyashi Island?" She's not sure _what_ he's doing exactly, but she can tell its something from the evasive answers given by the two Baratie employees.

One of the recruits explains to her that the way the marine coverage works is based entirely on orders. The marines work on a call system. Because of how large the seas are, and how few ships they have in East Blue, compared to the other more violent seas, any orders for a marine ship are 'first heard'. Who ever responds to an open call first is able to go.

"But there shouldn't be any more issue with Kokoyashi Island. Every once in a while, he acts up and we get a call from an irate villager, but Captain Nezumi usually handles the situations. He's always the first to answer the calls, you see?"

She nods in understanding at the explanation, but something still doesn't feel right. Another marine jumps in.

"The Commodore was supposed to have responded to the most recent call wasn't he? And we haven't heard anything back…"

"Well, there might have been come kind of storm, surely if Captain Nezumi can handle Arlong, then the Commodore can…!"

On it goes. She leans on her arm, chin in palm, and watches intently. She's accidentally sparked a righteous debate among the drunk men, and she's already been forgotten. Half the group, in slurring, stuttered words argue that the Commodore is too seasoned a sailor to have his ship sink in poor weather. About a third of the remainder argue back that Captain Nezumi regularly handles the Arlong crew, so clearly the warlord is weaker then expected.

A few men declare that they will personally ask Captain Smoker to handle the next call. They are promptly shushed by their comrades, who ask if they're insane to bother the captain.

The remainder declare their faith in the Navy and say that there's no way the Government would let a rogue cannon like Arlong have his way with East Blue; clearly he's able to be handled by the captains Nezumi and whoever else the marines send along. One even goes so far as to state the warlords stupidity.

"Fish for brains after all… they're basically animals, no logic, no smarts in 'um."

She nods along to his words; she's never met a fishman before but every book she's ever read says that they're animals that know how to speak. But… then again, every book says pirates are bad as well. Instead of thinking too hard, she nods along to acknowledge that she's heard the comment.

She long ago pulled out her book. Still leaning her head on one hand, she writes down the conversation, curious at the inside look at a Marine's philosophy. By the time the bar closing, she feels like there's still years of information she's missing.

Belatedly, she realizes she missed her chance at a free bed and meal with her dishes trick. Instead she goes up front and negotiates a room for a reasonable price from the barkeep. She mentions that she's interested in a job the following evening. He grunts in agreement and she trots off to bed, tired, but satisfied with her recon for now.

She spends a week in the same bar, seeing new and familiar faces as she does. Theres no telling what nuggets of information the men will drop when they speak to her and after some tantalizing stories, she wants nothing more then to speak with Captain Smoker.

The man has a reputation of fear among his cohorts. He has a devil fruit, very rare for east blue, and is often compared to a demon in retellings of his pirate captures.

When she spoke to locals, he is apparently friendly and goes out of his way to help the community. He's friendly with children, and —while very brusque and blunt—he is kind enough o carry packages for the elderly.

It's such a conundrum that she delights in each and every conflicting piece of gossip. Its like a ghost story, with no facts to back either side up, only rumors floating around.

The men who serve directly under Smoker, rather then out of the land base on the edge of Logue Town are obvious. They don't join in the rumor mill of their Captain, but are quick to defend him from outlandish insult. They throw credit for captures at their lieutenant as well, introducing her as a swordsman who is trying to "stop the swords from crying", as one drunken sailor put it.

When she's busy exploring the edge of the island one day, already having satisfied her curiosity of the execution platform and the historical section of the city, she misses a golden opportunity.

She thinks that she might punch Luffy when she meets him again. She spent a full week in Logue Town, and while she doesn't regret it, she's very mad that she never had a chance to meet with either the Captain, or his lieutenant. And she missed seeing her brother when he passed through the town.

The disappointment of not saying hello is eclipsed by her annoyance at him—Smoker and his crew have left to chase him.

The annoyance is eclipsed by her happiness. Another full page in her journal is take up by a bounty poster, but this one is not Ace's; Luffy has received his first bounty, a whopping 30k beli. The largest she's ever seen directly out of East Blue. There's also some interesting stories in the paper about the pirates of East Blue—she carefully remarks on it in her log and makes mention of the rumors she's discovered tying into the stories.

Theres a lot of information left out of the papers. This is how its always been. Now that she's seeing more and more in person, it's just a matter of filling in the blanks wherever she can. Seeing the marine side with the newspaper and the whispers from pirates is enough to see that a lot was left out of the official story.

She doesn't stay much longer, looking for the best crew to drag her into Grand Line. She's about to dig into her reserves of treasure, still fairly high but not something she want to spend if she can help it, and pay for a merchant vessel when she finds an answer.

The red nose pirates, although they don't like being called that, are a riot to party with. They are always together with another crew, Alvida heading as their captain. They all drink late into the night and she ends up dancing with a lion and an acrobat. She hitches a ride with them and quickly befriends their captain, Buggy. He's a piece of work all on his own. She's never meet someone who liked to talk about themselves more and thats including Bluejam.

He loves the idea of her writing a story and he laments his woeful tale. She laughs when she hears about her brothers exploits, but he thinks she's just laughing at his straw hat. She just grins and says nothing. She's gotten very used to only telling partial truths; half the world would hate her for her grandfather. The other half for her brother. Information is already becoming a precious commodity.

Entering Grandline is a rush. She jumps to the front of the ship and enjoys the ride up a mountain—who could've imagined you enter by going _up_ a mountain? It's an exhilarating ride and she cant stop laughing even though she can hear the rest of the crew calling her a demon. She hasn't made friends with all of them yet, not even most of them. Just a few. She'll need to remedy that and start interviewing.

In her log she describes the experience and calls it a mystery mountain. Looking at the sentence, she frowns. She needs more details then that. She seeks out the navigator who explains to her, as best he can, that the mountain relies on water sources from all the oceans colliding at the top and forcing the ship down the correct tributary towards Grand Line.

She writes it down and laughs it off, not understanding anything past, mystery mountain, but glad that she managed to get an explanation written down.

At the bottom of the mountain is a whale with a straw hat painted on it. It must be her brothers pirate mark and she has her thoughts confirmed when Buggy fairly growls out his name in disgust. They end up budging up against the mountain and walking around the small outcrop of rocks. There are signs of life: the long dead remains of a fire, broken glass and bones, footsteps.

Her brother's pirates are long gone. The two friendly crews gather drift wood and began building up a tremendous fire. She wonders for a moment where all the wood is coming from before she realizes that not every ship had a successful entrance into Grand Line. She wonders aloud how many ships had to crash for this fire to be made. This makes her burst into laughter, but the rest of the crews surrounding her turn varying shades from alabaster to puce.

The fire changes colors as well; like all driftwood fires, the salts in the wood cause the flame to burn hotter and brighter, with flashes of green and blue mixed in among more vibrant yellows and darker reds.

She's not quite sure when the old man joined the group, but then again, she wasn't paying attention, not really. Shed gone around and gotten to know the crews better, chatting more with the Buggy Pirates than Alvida's crew who quite frankly frighten her in their cult like ambition.

Alvida looks chuffed when she mentions it so she steers far away from them.

She only notices the old man when Buggy gives out a loud cry and jumps up to embrace the man. He stops himself short however, embarrassed at the stares from the rest of the crews.

She lets them catch up for a bit, but after what she feels is a reasonable amount of time, she pops up and abandons her conversation with the lion tamer.

She joins Buggy and the man—Crocus, she learns. Her very first question should come as no surprise to Buggy, but Crocus looks startled."What was it like on the pirate King's ship?"

He is a taciturn man, few words leaving his mouth but she learns some of what she wants to. She gets two separate entries from him. One is specific to the whale, Laboon. The mark is a promise from Luffy, and his whole crew to meet up once again with Laboon once Luffy has sailed around the world.

The scars on the whale are from his repeated banging against the mountain. Apparently he has been abandoned here by a different crew many years ago. The Rumba Pirates where a group of musicians, however Crocus is certain that at least some of the group has fled back to safer waters, too ashamed to meet with Laboon. The rest, he declares, must be dead. It was over 50 years ago.

"" **Laboon has kept me company here, just as much as I keep him company. He's waiting for someone to show up, not that I think the Rumba Pirates are still alive. I've told Laboon as much; grand line whale he is: he understands everything I tell him. Still, he waits. You can't force that kind of devotion…" Crocus is lost in thought discussing his charge. Laboon the whale, almost in reflection of the comments, is low in the water, one of his eyes on the group of pirates surrounding the fire. Crocus catches himself and continues telling the assembled group about Laboon's latest encounter:**

 **Luffy and his crew had flown down reverse mountain, much the same as we had. Unfortunately for them, Laboon had been blocking the entrance. Their ship would have collided with the whale had it not been swallowed. While seemingly a worse situation to be in, Crocus explained that he himself actually lives in Laboon's stomach. Within Laboon however was something much worse then Crocus or his floating home— two poachers were trying to kill Laboon and use him as food for their village.**

 **As an aside, I don't want to detract from my interview with Crocus, so please see my footnote for my argument against inhumane treatment including eating sentient creatures with self-awareness including grand line whales.**

 **Crocus continued his tale,**

What he has to say about his time with the Pirate King is much briefer then the detailed story he gave on Laboon:

" **Captain Rodger abandon us? His faithful crew? Who dares say anything against my former captain? Captain was the greatest man I ever met. My greatest regret that I wasn't able to save him. He was already sick when he gave himself up to the marines, no chance I could have done anything. The whole crew knew he didn't have much longer to live. So Rodger sent us off. We were no where near when the marines finally caught a whiff of his trail. And don't let the marines fool you. They didn't** ** _catch_** **him; he** ** _turned_** **himself in." It's clearly an emotional tale foe crocus because he's silent for several long moments before he continues.:**

 **"** **I think the only person who had the nerve to watch the actual execution was Raleigh—he was our first mate. I still see him from time to time, but less often now as we've gotten older. Wish Rodger could have made it to be as old as we are. Not the kind of person I could ever imagine dead; even now, years later, it feels ridiculous to say. He was just** ** _so full of life_** **." Crocus fell into a deeper silence here and this remark concluded his interview.**

When the red nose pirates leave the rocky outcropping, it is with an eternal log posse picked up in Louge town. She asks about a regular one, but Buggy informs her that he wont be able to grab one till they reach Alabasta and that he doesn't want to waste time on the minor islands anyway.

She understands. As interested as she is in gathering stories, there is a vicious part of her that seeks adventure. She doesn't care to stop at every island and hear every story. She selfishly only wants to hear the interesting stories. Part of her is internally disappointed at this attitude, because surely every story matters; every single one adds to the perspective of history and every single one is important. But as the editor of her own log, she recognizes that she must cherry pick her ideas and find the correct stories to display whatever truth she discovers.

And isn't that a conundrum.

How can she decide _which_ truth to display? Isn't that an oxymoron? She wants to bang her head against a wall. She spends most of the rough journey to Alabasta thinking over the problem she has discovered: If there is to be a truth, doesn't someone else explaining it change the truth? Whether it be written down or spoken, ideas and how they are transmitted are just as important as knowing something. Maybe everyone has to discover truth for themselves. Perhaps the simple act of writing something, or even just saying it already distorts truth, changing it into lie.

She tries to explain this to Buggy and Alvida, but neither seem to understand her complaint. She decides she must ignore it for now. She stays silent and thoughtful when she's not interviewing the crews. Or partying. Because the crew is too much fun when they party.


End file.
